Seattle Restaurant Week (SRW), the biannual grub rush that is the area’s biggest dine-out deal, returns April 7-11 and 14-18 as customers continue to seek bargains and restaurants aim to deliver.

The 10-day promotion now includes a record 165 King County restaurants, each offering three-course dinners for $28.

SRW was established four years ago when the recession began hurting the restaurant business. Now the economy is in a slow recovery, but many restaurant goers have come to expect reduced prices, smaller plates and other deals. Restaurants continue to respond with special offers.

One of SRW's newcomers, Panevino Trattoria on Capitol Hill, has been emailing $15 gift certificates and coupons for free antipasto to would-be customers.

Most participating restaurants have a short menu for their SRW dinners, to control costs and simplify things in the kitchen. Ponti Seafood Grill sweetens the deal by having most of its regular menu available for the three-course deal, as well as offering two courses for $20 in the bar.

To keep up with the competition, some restaurants replicate the SRW deal without paying to be part of the promotion.

SRW was established and is run by the Seattle Restaurant Cooperative, a nonprofit association of restaurateurs that rounded up about 100 restaurants for its launch. It is separate from the recent Dine Around Seattle month-long promotion, although many restaurants belong to both.

Besides being bigger – with 33 restaurants added since last fall – this spring’s SRW includes online and in-person giveaways.

Each night during the promotion, about 30 restaurants will randomly select two guests to receive free dinners, not counting tax, drinks and tip.

A grand prize, a five-course dinner for eight with wine pairings, will be awarded via a drawing. Anyone who enters a gift-certificate giveaway on the SRW website, TwitterorFacebookis eligible.